


Luck Be A Lady

by LNC



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Ladybug, Akumatized Marinette, F/M, Gen, Inter-connected Drabbles, My baby girl needs a break and I'm about to give her a big one., ladrien, neutral evil? chaotic evil? chaotic neutral?, who can tell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-19 16:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19977220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LNC/pseuds/LNC
Summary: Even a Ladybug can fall.





	1. A Lady to Begin With

**Author's Note:**

> My baby girl needs a break and I'm about to give her a big one.

Her city stretched out beneath her, an endless shimmering sky of lights and brick and people. The streets spread out like constellations, weaving in and around each other, making sense of the senseless. From her place on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, Paris’ north star, Ladybug felt all the despair of responsibility rush up like buildings to meet her.

She was… so _tired_.

It was the month to end all months. 

Hours on days on weeks culminating in one mistake after another until all she was left with was a series of disappointed everything in her wake.

Friends who were tired of her increasingly flimsy excuses. Parents who wondered what happened to their well meaning, scatterbrained daughter. Teachers who questioned her absences and dropping grades, not so and gently scolding her about accountability like she wasn’t holding this city together by the strength of her fingertips. Classmates who always wanted _more_ , expected the world, but turned their back on her when the newest, shiniest Lie(la) came through, silver tongued with a viper bite. Partners who wanted more than she could give who hurt her for hurting them. And a city,

oh, a _city_.

A city who was starting to doubt.

It started with a talk show. A blooper reel of all her and Chat Noir’s blunders, a laugh track of little failures. It grew, as discourse does, from there. The Ladyblog could hardly keep up with all of the hot takes being thrown around about her fitness as a hero, her ability to defeat Hawkmoth, and whether or not giving up her miraculous to a more _capable_ party might not be better. At least _then_ Paris might finally see some results.

It all, inevitably, culminated in this, her breaking down.

Ugly and wet and long overdue.

“It’s not _fair_ ,” She whispered, tears on her elbows, snot on her face, fists in her thighs.

She’d transformed to get away from her misguided, well-meaning kwami, hoping to gain perspective in the skyline. It only succeeded in making her feel small.

Small and beaten smaller every day until there was nothing left.

She was so tired. So, so tired.

The brushing of wings against her cheek, a momentary tickling, was her only warning before the darkness took over. A voice, dark and familiar and soothing in all its promises echoed through her mind.

“Roulette, I am Hawkmoth. Your loved ones don’t believe in you. Your city doubts you. And all your hard work goes unappreciated. I can help you take revenge on those who take you for granted. All I need is yours and Chat Noir’s miraculous.”

Energy, dark, temptation, hot, swamped over her as every head shake, low voiced, doubting face rushed past. Every _I don’t understand_ and _girl, you need to get it together_ and _she can’t do this_ drowned out the frantic warnings in her mind until there was nothing left but the sound of her own exhausted resentment.

Ladybug gripped her yoyo,

and smiled.

“ _Bonne chance,_ Hawkmoth.”


	2. A Lady Doesn't

The streets were quiet.

Not unusual with a city-wide curfew in place.

It wasn’t the first time an akuma attack extended beyond a day or two. But it _was_ the first time Ladybug never showed up.

Sightings, rumors and whispers, abounded. Message boards run riot with theories about the missing superheroine and the akuma everyone _knew_ was there but no one could accurately describe.

Chat Noir bounded over the rooftops, eyes sweeping back and forth, searching for a shadow, a hint of red, anything.

“Maybe she’s out of town,” Plagg offered, when Adrien’s anxiety grew to be too much. “I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later.”

But she didn’t.

Six days without any word from Ladybug and Chat Noir was more than a little on edge. Especially when the city was paralyzed with unease. The feeling spread throughout the city, an unsettling quiet that defied all appearances to the contrary. Something was very, very wrong and it felt like the land itself was holding its breath as everyone waited for the inevitable.

The inevitable _what_ was the real question.

It was on his third run-through of the evening that Chat finally spotted her. Tension eked out of his shoulders as a familiar silhouette took shape, long legs kicking out over the edge of a rooftop overlooking the Seine.

“Ladybug!” He called out, not even trying to disguise his relief. _She_ would know what to do.

Chat came up short, however, of drawing closer.

His fingers twitched, neck pricked, with a sense of foreboding.

There was something… different about her.

Something _wrong_.

“LB?” He tried again less sure.

Ladybug tilted her head to the side, considering.

“I suppose so.”

Chat crept closer to her only for horror to strike him as he took in her appearance.

Not so obvious in the dark, but distinguishable as he drew nearer, was the inverted pattern, black for red and red for black, of her usually bright, vibrant suit. Shiny brass ribbons replaced the red ones in her hair.

She caught his horrified expression and grinned.

“He calls me Roulette.”

Chat’s fingers reached towards her, trembling, even as he took a step back. “Lady, no.”

“Mmm.” She said. “And yet.”

“What happened?”

“What _didn’t_ happen?” Ladybug – no, _Roulette_ \- shrugged. Her lips twisted as she took in his wary stance. “You needn’t look so nervous, kitten. I’m not going to bite.”

“You’re an _akuma_.”

“Just so.”

Chat hesitated. “What about my miraculous?”

“What about it?” Her eyes glittered beneath her mask. “That’s not _my_ job.”

Slowly, she pulled herself up, wiping the dust off her suit as she stood. It was uncanny how normal she looked. How normal she _seemed_ .

“Ladybug, give me your earrings.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not your line.”

“Bug,” He croaked, desperate. “ _Please_.”

Roulette tapped her finger against her smirking lips.

“I’ll make you a deal, minou. The same deal I gave him.”

She pulled her yoyo from her side and only now did Chat notice its change in pattern. What once sported Ladybug’s signature red and black spots now resembled the green and red stripes of a roulette wheel.

She rolled the yoyo down once, twice, and he watched as the wheel spun in its arc, mesmerized.

“Place your bets, Chat Noir,” She said. “My earrings for your cooperation.”

Roulette grinned at him, brass and sleek and black. Her fingers toyed with the string of her yoyo and her eyes, her _eyes_ , brimmed with temptation and bad intent.

This was not his lady. Not anymore.

“No.” He said. 

Whatever game this was-- Chat knew down to his bones he was better off folding.

Roulette tilted her head, surprised. “No?”

“No.”

“Hmm,” She sighed, not at all put out. “Seriousness doesn’t suit you, kitten.”

She coiled her yoyo and placed it back on her side, smiling. Chat watched her, wary, as she took one, two, three steps towards him. Stupidly, he stood his ground.

“So stoic,” She said, pouting. “If you change your mind you know where to find me. We always did work best together.”

Chat’s heart panged as she reached up and _twinged_ his bell.

“I’ll even let you in on a little secret,” Roulette’s teeth flashed, devious in the night lights, as she leaned forward. He repressed, or at least tried to, the shiver that overtook him as her lips brushed the shell of his ear.

“The house always wins.”


End file.
